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Two Legged Robot Sets Speed Record
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers in Germany and Scotland have made the fastest two-legged robot yet (for its size) called RunBot. It is controlled by a simple program that mimics the way neurons control reflexes in humans and other animals. From the article: 'We wanted to show that a very simple system with a simple neuronal controller could walk in a natural manner - and fast,' says Florentin Wörgötter, from the University of Göttingen in Germany. The story also features couple of videos of RunBot in action."
How many leg-length per second can the "average" human achieve?
I've heard of feet per second, but legs?
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I'll feel safe as long as I can still outrun our robot overlords.
Ah, the famous two-legged cheetah... probably yeah.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Two mpeg videos show RunBot (4.9M) walking at a steady speed and (15M) gradually learning to walk more rapidly.
;)
Get'em while they're hot,
...I won't be impressed until a two-robot team wins a three-legged race.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
I love how it busts right at the end of video 1. They should have a sensor on its head to sensor when the head touches the ground.. . That should trigger a Homer-esque "D'oh!"
Slashdot posts a story saying somebody made a robot that runs really fast, why the heck doesn't it say how fast the thing runs in the summary? Eh? EH???
The two women who actually read /. are hoping scientist don't put so much effort into their robots finishing quickly when they produce a three-legged bot.
You don't have to be faster than the killer robot.
You just need to be faster than that any other humans you happen to be with.
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-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Could be worse. On Digg, the title would be "All Humans Will Walk With Bionic Legs By 2007!!!!"
It can walk but can't maintain verticality? Is it there to stabilize it? That's pretty lame if they don't even have to worry about keeping its center of balance ... that's the hardest thing to figure out about fluid bipedal motion!
Probably just to stop the experiment needing a shitload of space without worrying about explicit turning. Of course, you could have just quoted the entire paragraph (two sentences) - bold face added:
RunBot currently walks around the edge of a circular room and is connected the centre of the room by a boom. But Wörgötter plans to develop a freestanding version next, and thinks it should be straightforward because the boom has only a small influence on its ability to walk.
Doesn't seem quite so problematic now, does it?
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
Wait, so now we have to replace RTFA with RTFC? Jeez, no wonder geeks are all so unhealthy... look at how lazy we are!
Althought called "runbot" it's actually a speedwalkerbot. at least that's all the videos show. At no point are fewer than one foot on the ground.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
Didn't Qurio claim to be the world's first "running" robot?
I always thought Qurio was great: push him over and no matter what orientation he ends up in, he can get back to his feet again. I think it's not too far away that after they get up off the ground, they come over and slap you for pushing them over...
As to the whole walking thing - it's a fascinating topic I think:
1) walking is a controlled fall, the only thing preventing you from going face-first into the pavement is that next foot fall.
2) Maximum cruising speed is attained in a single revolution. No other animal or engine can claim the same (AFAIK).
How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
How is it a 2-legged robot?
;p
Without the boom it will fall over, nor could it walk.
Of course it can't even STOP , that might be a minor issue for usefulness
Hurfy
Fastest man on 2 legs...while running down the aisle of the airliner anyways...
Call be back when it's untethered, has arms, and can stand itself back up after it trips. Then I'll be impressed. Until then, it's no more impressive than a bot on wheels.
C:\DOS
C:\DOS\RUN
RUN DOS RUN
It's never just a game when you're winning. - George Carlin
I think he's just saying that our robot overlords won't be much larger than a human. Relax. It's good news.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
And this is what Kevin Kelly says in his excellent book Out of Control (The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World). Start with small and dumb machines, follow nature and gradually build up the complexity. The efforts of creating one machine which does it all is going to fail.
They need to change run, to dance. Also, they need to include that it was rocking out to Mr. Roboto. DOMO ARIGATO MR ROBOT *FUUEEEEEWWWW**FUUEEEEEWWWW*
welcome the lack of any obvious "I for one welcome our new two-legged running robotic speed record breaker overlords" jokes so far. :P
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That is teh creepiest freaking thing I have ever seen.
But Wörgötter plans to develop a freestanding version next, and thinks it should be straightforward because the boom has only a small influence on its ability to walk.
Well what do you expect him to say, that this approach is hopelessly limited?
This isn't the first time we've seen great mobility from tethered robots, but somehow these guys never manage to produce the untethered version. Getting power and proper balancing to an untethered robot seems to be the critical stumbling block and I would be shocked if this one doesn't hit the same issues.
It's the Wrong Trousers!
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But can they build him faster? stronger?
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
This thing walks in a circle and is connected to a boom - it can't walk freely. All the legs have to worry about is front/back balance, and not side to side. Of course, making that obvious in the headline or summary would make the article seem much less interesting, and we couldn't have that, now could we?
Accepted. But that wasn't really the point of the research. If you RTFA and RTFWP (white paper), these guys are more interested in neuroscience. So what they did was design a simple mechanical system and a simple controller that both mimic the actual physical/physiological function of human legs. Balancing has alot to do with the structure of the foot and our ability to shift weight and is more of a dynamics issue. What these guys did was gait generation, which sounds simple (one foot after the other), but when you sit down and start trying to work out the details, its not so easy.
A similar (theoretical) study which actually addresses balancing (this time for insects with six legs):
J.E. Seipel, P. Holmes and R.J. Full (2004) Biological Cybernetics 91, 76-90. Dynamics and stability of insect locomotion: a hexapedal model for horizontal plane motions.
m0nstr42.blogspot.com
Yes but can it moon walk? Though I am not sure I want to see moonwalking again anyway.
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